In the mining of minerals, water washing processes are often employed to separate the valuable constituents of mined materials from less useful constituents. These latter materials, often referred to as "tailings," have generally been regarded as waste because of the high cost associated with their being further beneficiated. They are usually discarded. One example of such discarded material is coal fines carried with effluent from coal washing operations.
Recent efforts to locate new energy sources have involved attempts at beneficiating these coal fines from effluent slurries. One approach has included the addition of binding agents to coal particles dried from the slurries. However, such techniques have proven to be only marginally, if at all, successful for many reasons, including that the finished product typically has a rather low heat content. Two principal reasons for this low heat content have been an inability to bond the coal particles in a moisture-free condition and an inability to sufficiently waterproof the finished product and to protect it against degradation during storage.